Forgotten, But Not Yet Gone
by HalfwayDecentFanfiction
Summary: AU where Asami ends up losing her company. Bosami. Based loosely on the song "Fred Jones, Part 2" by Ben Folds. No song lyrics this time!


"Varrick's here," Zhu Li announced unceremoniously. "You have to vacate the premises now, or he'll call the police." Asami started. She hadn't expected them to show up so soon.

"Can I just...have a few minutes to say goodbye?" she said, and she nearly cringed at the pathetic, little-girl voice that came out of her mouth. Like she was ten years old again, begging to play in the big office while her daddy worked.

"Fine," said Zhu Li. "I'll be back in precisely three minutes. You had better be gone." She left the room.

Asami sank into the leather chair, burying her face in the arm and breathing in the scent. It smelled like ink and old cigars, the smell that had always hung about her father when she was a child. She hadn't visited him in jail once. And how could she now? He had probably heard about what she had done to his company from someone. What would he think of her now? What would he say?

She remembered how he used to let her play CEO in the office on days when he wasn't so busy. How he used to let her wear his old suits and would laugh at how her face screwed up with concentration as she vigorously colored pictures at his desk.

He would hate her for what it. She had tossed her father out like old clothes, then tried to play CEO for real, only to discover that she still had the maturity of that little girl, only without the support system. She had destroyed every part of her father's life, and she would never be able to look him in the face again. She had no family left.

Sometimes she wished that she hadn't done what she did.

Zhu Li appeared in the door, the grim reaper in a tight bun and secretarial glasses.

"It's time," she said sternly, and Asami left the room, shamefaced, like she'd just been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. Varrick and Zhu Li had seen through her all along, she realized now. They'd seen that she was nothing but a silly girl playing dress-up all along.

She walked agonizingly down the stairs, trying not to meet anyone's eyes, and out the door. And there, waiting outside the door, was Bolin.

"Finally! I've been waiting all day!" he said earnestly. "I want to show you something."

Asami sighed. She always had trouble saying no to her earnest puppy of a boyfriend, but she really wasn't in the mood for whatever ostentatious date Bolin had planned for her and paid for with Varrick's money. "I just want to go home," she said. It was true. She wanted to go home, to her office in the Future Industries headquarters, but she could never do that again.

"Come on," he said. "I had a _ton_ of problems with the shoot today and I have to vent to someone." And suddenly, Asami snapped.

"Look, this isn't about you, okay?" she said sharply. "I am not in the mood! Can't you just listen to me for once?" Bolin stiffened, and he looked almost scared.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean...yeah. I was being a jerk," he said. Asami softened.

"No, you weren't," she said. "I'm the one who yelled."

"Yeah, but I probably deserved it," Bolin said. "I shouldn't be rubbing my money in your face like this."

"It's all right," Asami said gently.

"How about if I make you dinner?" Bolin said. "To make up for it?" She pulled Bolin into a soft, gentle kiss, and they melted into each other in front of the factory.

"That would be wonderful," said Asami. She took his big, meaty hand in hers, and they walked down the street together.

Sometimes she wished that she hadn't done what she did. But...her father might have hurt Bolin, and any number of others. Asami couldn't have lived with that on her conscience.

...

Bolin was an excellent cook. They didn't bother with the table. Instead, Asami changed into her comfortable clothes while Bolin cooked noodle soup, and they sat on his big green couch together. Asami leaned into his huge shoulders as she sipped her soup from the cup, and Bolin wrapped his arm awkwardly around her slender waist. He kissed the top of her head. They were the same, really, both just children thrown into the adult world too soon.

"I know you don't want to talk about your company," he said. "But you do have a plan to get it back, right?"

"No," Asami said, and she could feel the hot tears building up behind her eyes. "I don't think I should. I mean, look at me. Do you think I look like I could run a company?"

"I think you look like you could do anything you want," Bolin said. "And I think you were the best CEO ever. You're smarter than Varrick and his stupid moustache." The admiration in his voice was so sincere that Asami couldn't help but believe it. That was what she loved about Bolin. Everything he said was as honest as the earth itself. He wasn't like Mako, who would pretend he loved you as long as it suited him so he didn't have to look the truth in its stern, unforgiving eye. He was immature that way. If Bolin said he believed in her, he meant it.

"You don't understand," she said. "What it's like to fail as badly as I did."

"You don't think I do?" Bolin joked. "What do you think I do every day?" And Asami remembered the crushed expression on Bolin's face whenever he lost a pro-bending round, the fear in his eyes when he hadn't known how to break up with Eska, even the disappointment in his voice whenever he lost a fight with Mako. And he still kept trying. He woke up every day and put everything he had into everything he did. Bolin, big, boisterous, childish Bolin, was stronger than anyone realized, including herself.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she began to wonder what Varrick would do to her employees. Future Industries had always been one of the few places that made an effort to hire an equal amount of benders and non-benders, although there were more places doing so now. Even though Amon himself had been terrible, the movement he had started had continued on after his death, and brought a lot of good to the city. Still, though, Asami had gotten to know these people. Would Varrick fire them? Would he cut their wages? Or replace them with benders? And what would he do with the development labs? Would his inventions be able to match those of Asami and her fathers'? Suddenly, Asami was furious that this silly, impulsive man had control over the state-of-the-art labs and top-of-the-line scientists that he probably had no idea how to use. Bolin was right. She was smarter than Varrick, and his moustache was stupid.

She still felt like a child, but she realized now that Bolin felt that way, too. Probably most people did. Everyone failed. The difference was who kept trying, who managed to claw their way back to the top. Asami tilted her head upwards and kissed Bolin on the cheek.

"You're right," she murmured, slipping her hand under his shirt. "I'll think of a way to get my company back." She lovingly kissed Bolin's neck, and he moaned slightly. "Tomorrow."


End file.
